The Technique
When we went from on-campus to online, there was a noticeable absence of engagement with my students. The course material is challenging, and so I quickly modified the order of my live lecture elements to first introduce a concept, then move to discussion and problem solving, and then work together to correct/refine our understanding.
One noticeable positive I experienced from this early online change was a feeling of being more connected with students than I had in my first couple of online lectures. I was not receiving much feedback directly from students in those first lectures. These days, I am more confident about how they are doing, what they are doing, and how they are doing it.
I’m really enjoying the small group discussions/breakout rooms (the chew). I can speak directly with small student groups. In the first step (chunk), many students are silent, so it is unclear how to engage effectively.
How I Use It
One full Chunk-challenge-chew-chat-check cycle should take approximately 30 minutes.
The first thing I do is review the concepts/material to be introduced in my lecture so that I can create a set of elements (i.e. a cycle). I want to create ‘sections’ of the lecture that seem complete. I try to break my chunks into ten minute. Each section will become a cycle.
- I ready my first lecture section (the first chunk) for delivery and then develop a question for this section.
- Time for a breakout: Here I send small groups to discuss and work together to solve the challenge question. I tend to randomly assign learners to a room, so learners may not be in the same group in the next cycle.
- Once learners move to the small group, I’ll go visit them to see if they have follow-up questions. I am ready to give out ‘hints’; I have a few of these handy[1]. The breakout room has a time limit of ten minutes and, when this time ends, learners rejoin me in the big virtual classroom.
- Time now to poll students on the answer. I use a multiple-choice question format so that learners can read it easily and answer quickly. I look at the results to see if there is obvious confusion to determine where my next step will take us.
- Now, I’ll show how I would go about answering the question. As I work through my solution, I will reference the multiple-choice poll answered so learners can see (based on their choice) what they understood correctly or where to correct their process.
- And now … see step 1 for round two!
Feedback from Learners
Learners seems to be much more engaged, and the ability to converse has certainly improved a lot.
I polled the students to see how they view the technique. 92% gave a thumbs-up to the approach!
“solving problems with other students’ explanations gives a different perspective than just your own on a concept.”
“I like being able to talk things through and hear what others are thinking.”
A Short Task to Challenge You
You may have recently given a lecture or perhaps you are preparing your course for the next semeste